Venus admits remaining competitive gets harder

Venus Williams admits it is a stretch to remain competitive as she prepares to reach a stunning landmark.

The five-time champion is hunting another title at the All England Club, which would make her the oldest singles grand slam winner in the open era.

Now 37, Williams last lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish nine years ago, but in the absence of sister Serena there is nobody with greater big-match experience left in the draw, as she heads into her 100th Wimbledon singles match today.

A solid 6-3 6-2 victory over Croatian 19-year-old Ana Konjuh on Centre Court has teed up a quarter-final tussle with Latvia’s 20-year-old French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, who was a 6-3 7-6 (8-6) winner against Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina.

Asked how she stays so nimble, in her 20th Wimbledon campaign, Williams said: “I just keep stretching. I have no secrets. I’m just doing what I always have done.

“I think I stretch a little harder now. But only because I enjoy it. Winning never gets old at any stage in your career, ever, ever.”

Nobody in recent times has landed a singles major at 37, while Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King and Chris Evert are the only women to have played 100 Wimbledon singles matches.

Williams is not looking at the significance of her achievements while the big matches keep coming.

“You’ll have to ask me when I’m retired, what it feels like,” she said.

“But for now, it’s all about focusing on the best performance possible.”

Ostapenko needed eight match points to get over the line against Svitolina, as the 13th seed continued to back up her remarkable Roland Garros triumph.

Germany’s Angelique Kerber will lose the world No 1 ranking next week after bowing out 4-6 6-4 6-4 to Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, in a clash of the last two women’s final runners-up.

Muguruza goes on to play Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who downed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2 6-4 to reach her fourth Wimbledon quarter-final but her first for 10 years.

The top ranking on Monday will go to either Romanian Simona Halep, who must reach the semi-finals, or the already-eliminated Karolina Pliskova.

Halep ended Victoria Azarenka’s impressive tournament with a sharp 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 victory over the Belarusian. Azarenka, who gave birth to son Leo in December, was playing in just her second tournament since returning.

Halep will tackle Johanna Konta, Britain’s first women’s singles quarterfinalist since Jo Durie’s 1984 run.

American Coco Vandeweghe, the 24th seed, has an attacking game perfectly suited to the grass and strode on with an impressive 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 victory over Danish fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki.

Next for Vandeweghe will be unseeded Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, who extended her careerbest grand slam performance by overcoming Croatian Petra Martic 6-4 2-6 6-3 on Court 18.